I saw my orthopedic surgeon today and was given the go-ahead to lift again!
Hurray!  I've had a very active recovery period with Ahmed working on my
knee strength and muscle memory moves for the various lifts.  I did bench
press with Tom two times a week,. and actually saw some improvement over the
six weeks!  But, while the change of pace was fun...I am glad to be back on
the platform.  My knee is a little stiff, but relatively pain free.

I won't be doing any deep squatting or classic lifts until July 1, per
Ahmed...all power cleans and snatches.  The other sort of great news is
that....I am back to cardio.  No elliptical type stuff yet.  I am restricted
to the recumbent bike until I see the PT.  I've actually been doing the bike
for about a week, and was relieved to be able to do something that got my
heart rate up!  The hand bike was sheer torture...boring and almost no bang
for the buck, calorie burning wise VS effort (at least as far as shoulders
went!).  Now, I can get back on track with my exercise.

Hopefully, I will have no more bad news about my knees for a long time !

Elise.